First things first… I hope you’re all having or have had the summer of your lives; enjoying the heatwave and attending holidays, festivals and taking in the brilliant World Cup that we were all fortunate enough to witness.

I’m sure you are all eagerly anticipating Thursday 16th August, not knowing how to feel, what to do and how best to approach the day. A selected group of you will have unconditional offers – congratulations to all of you and hopefully I will have the pleasure of meeting you over the next few months. My advice to you very fortunate few would be to seek opportunities throughout summer to develop yourself – gain work experience in your chosen field, attend sporting events and read books (no, honestly do – I cannot recommend this enough, invest in yourself and you will reap the rewards).

I’ll shed some light on my experience and what I got up to in the summer previous to coming to UCFB and pending results day. I was fortunate enough to have an unconditional offer, so I prepared for it in the only way I know how. I took my football team to tournaments, organised pre-season friendlies and coached 4-6 hours per week, whilst also working 30+ hour weeks at Topman. I had to fund my holidays and festivals somehow, didn’t I? We all have to unwind and relax for a few weeks in summer, it’s important to remember that.

However, I know the picture may be slightly different for many others with conditional offers, waiting on results day to know where you could be heading. My advice would be to not worry about something you can no longer control; do not let the stress, fear or anxious feeling towards result day occupy your thoughts throughout summer. The universities have seen enough from you to warrant some kind of offer, and trust in yourself that your grades will match the necessary requirements. If your results don’t happen to be as strong as you had hoped, then cross that bridge when you come to it. I know of lots of people who were successful in clearing and managed to secure themselves a spot here at UCFB.

In the meantime, my one major piece of advice would be to invest time and effort in your personal development, that is something that will stand you in good stead in preparation for what will hopefully be a successful three years for everybody at UCFB.

Finally, don’t forget to enjoy summer. Don’t get carried away with thinking too much about results day. It’s an old cliché to say “what’s done is done”, but when August 16th comes around there are so many people who can help you find the information required. Don’t be a stranger, any of the UCFB ambassadors will be more than happy to share our experiences.

Good luck everybody. Feel free to drop us a message with any questions. I hope to see you all in September.